Carl W. Kenney II is an award winning columnist and novelist. He is committed to engaging readers into a meaningful discussion related to matters that impact faith and society. He grapples with pondering the impact faith has on public space while seeking to understand how public space both hinders and enhances the walk of faith.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Is this the new language of the KKK: Deconstructing the racial divide

Is this the new language of the KKK?

Are the terms of their resistance showing
up in ways that hide behind a new version of white sheets?

Is this a new strategy aimed at
keeping black people on the short end of the American dream?

These are the type of questions that
divide America. Anyone not living under a rock knows something new is brewing
in America. It’s easy to blame Donald Trump and his cohorts for expanding a
form of nationalism that demands the silence of black people. While the people
waving Confederate flags hail the resurgence of their right to celebrate
racism, there’s a brewing form of messiness that challenges everything we
believe.

What does it all mean?

There are multiple answers to that
question. For the most part, the way we query depends on a set of variables.
Things like family demographics and political ideology play a part, but, more
than anything else, the answer depends on a person’s race.

The consensus among many white
people is they’re tired of talking about race. They’re tired of it showing up
in conversations about sports. They want to live their life of leisure without
witnessing men knelling during the singing of the national anthem. They don’t
want their sports talk radio show to be dominated with updates regarding the
ongoing drama involving Colin Kaepernick.

They want to move past conversation
related to the sins of their long dead ancestors. In other words, get over it.

How that is heard and felt by black
people adds to the tension. The response, more than the events, obscures the
conversation. It’s a complicated mess that keeps Americans entangled in a web
that is hard to escape.

For black people, it feels like the
resurgence of the KKK. It’s hard to trust. It’s difficult, no, it’s almost
impossible, for black people to understand why white people don’t understand.
It’s hard to listen when moving forward demands silence.

American
Patriotism as a construction of silence

Exhibit one, the American flag and
the National Anthem.

Many white Americans view knelling
an unpatriotic act. It’s regarded a slight of the men and women who fight for
and die to preserve freedom. No matter America’s history of racism, the ideas
reflected in the Constitution, symbolized by the flag and affirmed in the
National Anthem, are more important than our past mistakes.

Black people are challenged to
overlook history.

This is an example of white privilege
at its worst. This is what it means to press an agenda on individuals with a
different perspective. It’s offering an assessment related to patriotism that
demands allegiance to white Americans understanding of freedom.

Being an American demands silence. You
don’t discuss the shooting deaths of unarmed black men and women by law
enforcement officers. You don’t cry Black Lives Matter as a statement of the affirmation
of black identity. You don’t protest when you have questions involving the
judicial system.

You get over it. You trust the
system. You do the very thing that has never worked for black people – pretend none
of it matters while trusting Americans care about you.

Is this the new strategy of the KKK?

Economic lynching

Do you remember the lessons of
history?

The purpose of lynching was to make
a point to those who contemplated freedom. It happened when slaves attempted to
run away. It also happened when black people attempted to vote or protested to
obtain the right to vote. It happened when black people sought access to
housing, education and employment.

It was used to send a message.

If you step over the line
established by white people, you will be punished for crossing that line. Those
with the power will attack your ability to work. You will be labeled al
Lightening rod – one who brings trouble by virtue of their mere presence. You
will be measured by your advocacy of justice rather than your ability.

You become too pro-black to share in
the profits afforded those who embrace the white American dream.

This is the point many white
Americans miss. They fail to understand the power of economic lynching. It’s
used to keep black people silent. Families have suffered massively when mama or
daddy attacks racism. It makes it hard for black people to protest. It’s why
some stay home. It’s why others compromise.

It’s a question that most black people
face at some point in life. What’s more important – fighting for justice or
making enough money to pay the bills?

This is at the root of the immense
gap between how black and white people view Colin Kaepernick. Black people know
the pain of his decision. White people, in some cases, merely see a rich athlete
taking a position that attacked their views of America.

Redefining
legitimate blackness

This is when it gets tricky. What
does it means to be black, and who establishes the terms related to the answer?

The answer to the question reflects
the continuing struggle among black people to fit the terms of the American dream.
What does legitimate blackness look like? How does it dress? What are the
legitimate hairstyles? How does it sound? What positions does it take? How does
it vote? Where does it go to school? How much money does it make? How does it
make money?

All of that is used to qualify
legitimate blackness, but, at the root of it all, is the question is the person
white enough, in their approach to life, to be considered worthy of a place
within the white American dream? In this sense, the terms of legitimate
blackness is managed by the white people who extend black people a place at the
table.

This, again, reveals the massive
tension black people carry related to the treatment of Colin Kaepernick. The
owners of the NFL are making a critical statement regarding how they view
legitimate blackness. They are using their power and money to make a statement concerning
who and what it takes to be a quarterback in the NFL.

Let’s take note of the checklist.
One, his hair is too long. Two, he’s not American enough. Three, he stands for
the wrong causes. Four, he sits for the wrong reasons. Conclusion, he is the
wrong type of black person.

He must be silenced.

Apply economic lynching to make a
statement to other players. Do it before they try to run off our plantation.

He’s too black to reap the benefits
of the white American dream

Is this the new strategy of the KKK?
Probably not, but it sure feels that way when you’re a person still searching
for freedom

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Carl W. Kenney II

Carl was named the best serious columnist of 2011 by the North Carolina Press Association for his work with the News & Observer's community paper The Durham News and in 2016 by the Missouri Press Association for his columns in the Columbia Missourian. He is a columnist with the News & Observer and Co-Executive Producer of "God of the Oppressed" an upcoming documentary film on black liberation theology. He is a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri - School of Journalism and Adjunct Instructor at Duke University, the Center for Documentary Studies. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He furthered his education at Duke University and attained a Master of Divinity. He was named a Fellow in Pastoral Leadership Development at the Princeton Theological Seminary on May 14, 2005. He is a freelance writer with his commentary appearing in The Washington Post, Religious News Services,The Independent Weekly and The Durham Herald-Sun. Carl is the author of two novels: “Preacha’ Man” and the sequel “Backslide”.
He has led congregations in Missouri and North Carolina